Generic Drug Effectiveness: 2-Part Proposition
The effectiveness of generic drugs is a 2-part proposition, writes Mitchel Zoler in a commentary that appeared in Internal Medicine News’ digital network. First, of course, is that generics must have have the same pharmacologic properties as brand name form. Just as important is “how patients regard these drugs from the neck up,” notes Mr Zoler.
He points to psychological issues that factor into how patients perceive and use generics. “Differences in pill size, shape, and color can confuse patients, and just knowing that a drug is a generic could possibly trigger anxiety… that might…disrupt their pill-taking behavior.”
Mr Zoler, who attended the annual meeting of the American Epilepsy Society in early December, says he heard clinicians there talk of patients who strongly prefer brand name drugs and ask that they be specified on their prescriptions. This despite the fact that a number of clinical trials this fall demonstrate that lamotigrine, a generic, performed identical to the branded drug “by both their pharmacokinetic profiles and in their clinical safety and efficacy,” writes Mr Zoler.
He cited data from another session that shows that generics can encourage more prudent use.
Mr Zoler concluded his commentary by writing that “generics that work indistinguishably from brand drugs are certainly attractive for the US health care system and the majority of the American public, but the concept that generic is best will be tough to sell to everyone.”
